The Newsletter of the Minnesota Vikings Wood Carvers Association
Volume 33 Number 2

Minnesota Vikings Wood Carvers
7425 17th Avenue South
Richfield, Minnesota 55423-4624

Meeting Location - Meeting Time –
Knights of Columbus, 4th Monday of the Month
1114 West 79th Street, Meetings start at 7:00 PM
Bloomington, MN 55435

February Meeting: Tool Sharpening.
March Meeting: Marquetry - Will Bondhus

Things to remember: Have you filled out your interest poll? If not, please take a moment now, complete it, and bring it to the Feb. meeting. Are there topics you would like to see at our meetings? Jot them down on a piece of paper and bring them along to the Feb. meeting. You can leave them at the greeter’s table. Do you have any projects that you are working on or have questions about? If so, bring them with to share with your fellow club members? Arrive early so you can view member projects and products for sale.

Calendar of Events
February 26, 2007 Program Preview
Presenter: Many different demonstrators
Theme: Tool Sharpening
Members and their guests are invited to bring a tool to this meeting. We hope each of you will gain sharpening experience on the sharpening system of your choice by operating it with the tool you brought along. Mentor/demonstrators will be there to instruct and guide your efforts.

Shows
Mar 10-11  Viking Show/Sale – Har Mar Mall -- Roseville -- Russ Scott  rscott56@netzero.com
Mar 17-18  Metro Chapter Display Show – Brookdale Mall -- Brooklyn Park
Mar 24-25  Rochester Carving Show -- 4-H Bldg at the Fairgrounds – webpages.charter.net/rochcarve
Apr 13-15   Red River Valley Show/Sale/Classes -- Doublewood Inn -- Fargo, ND
Apr 14-15   Waterloo Show/Sale/Competition -- NEIWCarve@aol.com
Apr 21        Central MN Woodcarving Display Show -- Whitney Sr. Center
May 4-6     Winnipeg Woodcarving Workshop, St. John’s College (UManitoba), beaverbaywoodcarving@shaw.ca
Jun 21-24    Davenport IA -- Int’l Woodcarvers Congress -- www.awcltd.org
Jun 28-30   Wahpeton ND -- Carving Weekend -- Seminar -- NDSSC
Jul              Harmony MN -- Minowa Show/Sale -- Slim’s Woodshed
Jul 15-17    Waldorf Workshop – Seminar –North Iowa Woodcarvers Guild – Waldorf College – Forest City, IA
Jul 22-27   Doane Experience – Crete NB Mid-America Woodcarvers -- Doane Collete
Jul 28         Blackduck MN -- Woodcarving Show/Sale – Wayside Park

Carving Classes
April 7 Beginning Intarsia – WoodCraft
April 11 Open Carve-in / mini class TBD – Burnsville Senior Center
May 9 Open Carve-in / mini class TBD – Burnsville Senior Center

Wood Working Events
The Wood Working Show Mar. 2-4 @ St. Paul Convention Center - www.thewoodworkingshows.com

President’s Notes

Well, we’ve finished another fiscal year with an excellent Intarsia program from our own Swede Bengtson.  Thank you, Swede.  Now, we begin our new year with the February meeting and a new slate of officers, with the recent addition of Swede as club Secretary.  The new board has met and is now in the process of establishing priorities and action plans to address issues facing the club, not the least of which has been a declining enrollment.  We’ve already made changes in our approach to programs and providing information and services to club members and will continue to do more.  We are hopeful that over time this will energize each of us to more active participation in club activities and recruitment of new members. To that end, I want to thank 19 hearty souls who have filled out the survey contained in the January newsletter.  This is providing valuable feedback, but is a much smaller sample size than I hoped for.  So, if you haven’t filled out a survey, please do so and either mail it to me or drop it off at an upcoming meeting.

You’ll notice that we have a new newsletter format this month.  I’m excited about it and Mike and I both welcome your feedback. You’ll notice that the newsletter contains a new section on Club sponsored classes, the first of which will be offered in April, and a pattern.  More will follow.   
Neil is lining up programs for our enlightenment and enjoyment.  In February, we’ll have an opportunity to try our hands at sharpening, using various tools and techniques.  A sharp knife or gauge makes carving so much safer, easier and enjoyable.  We intend to have a marquetry demonstration in March, delivered by a world renowned marguetarian.  This will be most interesting.  Also, we’ve received favorable comments about our carve-ins and intend to offer more this spring.  Please watch the newsletter for dates and times.
  We will always be looking for carving related items that are donated to the club for sale to members.  We thank those of you who have already made donations of your ideas, time and/or materials. Please continue to help where you can.

Good carving to you all,
Dennis ‘Denny’ Schuster


Minnesota Vikings Wood Carvers Officers & Contributing Members

President
Dennis Schuster
952-250-0326
dasSchu@gmail.com

Vice President /
Program Chair
Neil Gillis
952-402-0203
nwgillis@comcast.net

Secretary
Swede Bengtson
952-884-4136
SwedishGeppetto@aol.com

Treasurer
Leo Mielke
952-831-6907
landdmielke@usfamily.net

Newsletter Editor
Michael Kabes
612-869-5443
michaelkabes@msn.com

Coffee Chair
Leonard Kampa
952-854-1149
lkampasr@msn.com

Show Chair
Russell Scott
651-917-2125
rscott56@netzero.com

Meeting Minutes
January 22, 2007……by Swede Bengtson
SPECIAL NOTE
In an effort to purify our membership roster with correct spelling of names, current addresses, correct telephone numbers and, if available, email addresses, a welcome table with current officers was placed at the entrance of the meeting room. Annual membership dues are due on February 1 so placement of the table made it convenient to get them paid. Are you wearing your name tag? Maybe you don’t have one, better see Treasurer, Leo Mielke. Otherwise, look forward to having a sticky one pasted to your outer garments at every meeting. We look forward to seeing you at the welcome table each meeting!

Minutes
The meeting was called to order by President, Dennis Schuster. There were 48 members present along with visitor and new member, Burt Boudreaux. Welcome Burt! The treasurer’s and secretary’s reports were approved and seconded as printed in the November, 2006 newsletter. As of this meeting, there were 119 paid memberships.

NEW BUSINESS
As the newly elected Secretary, please be kind and bear with me until I get this minutes thing down!

TREASURER REPORT
Income: $ 303.52
Expenditures: $ 118.44
End Balance: $ 3132.44

VOLUNTEERS
At our November 27, 2006 Art Anderson asked for volunteers to assist with woodcarving for Boy Scouts to earn their Woodcarving Merit Badge. On January 20, 2007, ten Boy Scouts earned their Carving Merit Badge. Special thanks to our members, Al Edwins, Dick Allen and John Krantz who assisted. No band aids were required by the scouts but reports are that volunteers needed a few.

RECOGNITION
And, Clarence Moe was recognized for the four page write-up in the December, 2006 Carving Magazine. Congratulations to Clarence on this recognition.

Monthly Program

January 22, 2007 …… by Neil Gillis

Presenter: Swede Bengtson
Theme: Intarsia, creating a relief carving with colored wood
Presentation: Swede did a marvelous job of leading the audience through the Intarsia process. Following is a brief summery of the highlights of his presentation:

1. Obtain a picture to be the pattern for the creation – any image (preferably in color) that would make a good relief carving can be used as a pattern - make several copies of the pattern
2. Select wood of appropriate color to emulate each part in the picture - be sure to consider the usual carving considerations such as wood grain, etc – remember to consider the thickness of the wood so that proper elevations can be obtained during the carving process
3. Cut the wood to the shape of the varies picture parts - scroll saw blades suggested were #5 R (reverse) skip-tooth for the perimeter cuts and #2 R, skip-tooth for internal cuts - keeping the saw blade perpendicular to the saw table was stressed – sand the edges of the parts (as needed) to fit them snuggly together,
4. Shape the parts so each has the contour and elevation that make relief carvings take on their three dimension look
5. Finish all surfaces while pieces are still disassembled – final sanding should be done – leave back of the pieces unfinished for gluing, one coat of finish on the edges, and as many coats of finish on the front as needed to achieve the desired appearance
6. Make a backer board for mounting the project – thin plywood or waffle board was suggested as possible backing material – transfer the perimeter of the pattern to the backer and cut out – some carvers cut the outline to be the same size as the pattern, some cut it to be just slightly less than the outline
7. Assemble the prepared pieces to form the relief picture – some carvers assemble the picture by gluing the edges of the pieces together and then gluing the whole to the backer board, others assemble the picture by gluing the individual pieces directly on the backer board.
Thanks to Swede’s organization and knowledge I and others I talked to came away from this program with the confidence that we too could accomplish an “Intarsia” project.

SUNSHINE
* We’d like to extend our sympathies to Terry Kloyda and her family for the recent loss of his husband earlier this month.  Our best wishes are with the family.
* George Effrem’s father (Kris) is in Merridian Manor Care Center, Wayzata, after being attack by hoodlums and breaking his hip. The good news is that Kris is walking with a walker. Due to the absence of Kris in the store, George is looking for part time help to assist him with various store activities. If interested, call George @ 612-927-7491.

Viking Carving Classes
Intarsia by Swede Bengtson. WoodCraft Sat. April 7 9:00 to 5:00. $50.00, plus $15.00 materials fee. Register at Feb. Viking meeting, NOT at WoodCraft.

Burnsville Senior Center: Open Carve-in 6:00 – 9:00 classes to be determined.
* Wednesday April 11
* Wednesday May 9

Magnum Opus Show & Tell items from Jan. 22, 2007

NAME            CARVING           WOOD                   FINISH
Russ Scott          Tree Topper               Basswood                      Acrylic & Wax
Nancy Dardis     Intarsia Chest            Unknown
Leo Mielke        Cat Intarsia                Miscellaneous               Acrylic
John Sailor         Mary w/Lamb             Basswood
Lee Olson           Dough Boy                 Basswood                      Not Finished
Clarence Moe    Golfer                         Basswood                      Acrylics
Len Kampa         Angels                        Butternut                       Krylon Clear
Neil Gillis            Intarsia Barn             Western Red Cedar     Varnish
Lew Forsmark    Swedish Tompte         Basswood                      Acrylics
Charles Eiler      Wolf & Trees              Moose Antler               None
Bob Pitts             Christmas/Easter       Basswood                      Acrylics
Jim Ayers            Clinic Sign                  Red Oak/Black Walnut

SPECIAL INTEREST

1. Club Classes
We have made arrangements with Woodcraft to hold our first class (Intarsia by Swede) on Saturday, April 7. The maximum class size is six and Viking members have three guaranteed seats at special pricing. If the three public seats are NOT filled by the Monday before class, we’ll be able to fill them from our standby list.
Rules:
* Special Viking Member Price:  $50.00, plus $15 materials fee (This is about half of the public class)
* Viking members sign-up at the Welcome Table. Payment is due at the February meeting.
* We have three (3) guaranteed seats, which we must fill. The class is guaranteed to be held.
* DO NOT sign-up at Woodcraft unless you want to pay their public class price. We’ll handle your registration there.
* 10% discount (except power tools) for student purchases in-store during class day.
* Additional classes can be quickly scheduled for additional members, if necessary.
* Contact Swede or Denny if you have any questions.

2.  Carve-In/Classes at Burnsville Sr. Center:
We have two evenings reserved, Wednesday April 11 and Wednesday May 9 6:00-9:00.  Our intention is to hold these as open carve-ins and/or offer a small mini-class for those who might be interested.  To defray cost of the facility, members will be asked to donate $2 for the open carve-in and $5 plus materials for participating in a specific mini class. There will be no business meeting at these sessions.

PROJECT TITLE:
“Viking Cross” Pattern

Description:
The ‘Viking Cross’ is an adaptation of an original pattern provided by Viking’s
member Bob Pitts and features a stylized
cross. A picture of the actual 6” x 71/2”
carving is included.

Project Instructions:
The pattern can be used in a relief, intarsia, pierced, in-the-round, etc. project, with carving style and wood choices limited only by the imagination of the carver.

Relief: The project can be relieved from a square, round, oval piece of wood, with or without bark, or the outside entirely carved away. Either will make a great wall hanging. Bob’s original project was carved in three levels, with the inside loops and extremity arches carved at the same level. The project is pierced and a groove is carved out of the surrounding elements. The piece is carved in basswood and painted with gesso and gold edges. Your project may use up several levels, with the levels alternating, as with Bob’s, or progressing in steps inside out or outside in. Each step may be in its own plane or the entire background carved in a more sweeping manner.
Key points / Potential problems
Intarsia and/or Fretwork: The project could be done in up to four levels, adhered to a backer board that is either pierced or not. The surrounding elements may be done as a single level of fretwork and the carved cross adhered to the top in a contrasting wood.

Thank you Bob Pitts for the pattern ideas and carvers, good luck in making a piece for Show & Tell.

VIKING WOODCARVERS

2007 SPRING SHOW AND SALE

March 10 and 11, 2006
Har Mar Mall at Snelling and County Road B, Roseville, Minnesota

Saturday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm (7:30 Doors Open)

Sunday, Noon to 5:00 pm (9:30 Doors Open)

Application     Flyer